Cafe comfort
by CookieShipping FOREVER
Summary: May's feeling down in the dumps, and who's there to comfort her but our very own Harley? Of course, he's not likely to comfort her in the traditional way... Oneshot.


In a small, out of the way coffee shop, a brunette girl stared into her mug of tea. She gazed down at the reflection of the blue-eyed, fair skinned girl without seeing it.

Couples and families were all around her, eating their sandwiches and cake, drinking their coffee and juice, generally having a good time.

The depressed teen saw them, heard them, but didn't register them. She had simply walked in, gone to the till, handed over a couple of pound coins and sat at a secluded table, not really making contact with the world beyond her head.

Her friends had watched her walk away after she failed to make it through the preliminary rounds for the first time in her life. She had messed up big time.

She felt a small brush against her back, and as she looked round, her heart fell as she saw who was leaning on the back of the chair.  
_'Oh Arceus. Not him. Anyone but him.' _He was the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Hello, May, hun. What's up, got a cold?"

"Go away, Harley."

The violet haired youth stood up indignantly, and moved to sit down in the chair opposite his rival. He fixed her with a hard stare.  
"I try to help, and this is the thanks I get? Someone's in a funny mood today."

May stared into her coffee again.  
"Why are you here, Harley? Don't you have the rest of the contest?"

"No, didn't you hear? It's been cancelled due to calls of..." He flashed his teeth. "Foul play."

"Cancelled?" May looked at Harley sternly. "You didn't."

Harley pouted reproachfully.  
"Of course not! What do you take me for, a scoundrel? May, I'm hurt. Especially as I came all the way here to find you."

May sighed. She just couldn't win with this guy!  
"I appreciate you looking for me, but can you please go away?"

"No."  
Harley's simple and resolute answer took her by surprise, and she blinked in confusion.

"What?"  
"I said 'no'." Pouting again, he raised his hand and clicked. A young waitress dashed over. Her short, curly, teal hair hung in threads over her round face, and she quickly brushed them out of the way. "I'll take the usual, hun. But add three of the little pink marshmallows, 'kay? Oh, and a fried egg on toast. Make sure the yoke's still runny; don't you just hate it when it's cooked through?"  
The girl, who had up until that point been scribbling ferociously on her pad, looked up at Harley with her large amber eyes and, with a quiet hum of agreement, nodded. She then turned her gaze onto May, who was half staring, half glaring at Harley for being so blunt with the girl.  
"Would you like anything?"  
May quickly averted her attention to the young waitress. Her speech had been surprising; soft and calm, almost like she was asleep. May opened her mouth to turn down the offer, but Harley interrupted her immediately.  
"She'll have the same, hun! May, how do you like your eggs?" The effeminate Co-ordinator switched his gaze from the waitress to May in a flash, his eyes facing his rival while his face was still in the direction of the girl. He gave a friendly smile, but May wasn't feeling the love at that moment.

"Hey! What gives you the right to order for me?" She pouted, huffing, but Harley merely slumped onto his chair, smiling happily.  
"Listen, May hun. If you're going to stop failing in the preliminary rounds, you'll have stop being so negative all the time. Not to mention your treatment of others; just look at poor Robin here." He gestured towards the waitress, whose face displayed a fair amount of fear at being referred to by name by Harley. "Your little angsty tantrum about something as trivial as an egg is wasting her valuable time."  
The embarrassed waitress started to say something contrary to Harley's rant, but he silenced her with the sharp raising of his hand. "Don't stop me, hun; I'm on a roll. May, you really must learn how to control that nasty temper of yours if you're to get past that first round."

It was at this point May lost her temper.  
"How dare you say that?! This is only the first time that I've not got through the preliminary round! My Pokemon and I are perfectly capable without your pointless lecturing, Harley! I-"  
She was cut off by the maniacal laughter coming from the Co-ordinator opposite her, and she pouted again. "W- What's so funny?"

"Your face!" Harley exclaimed. "You looked so funny, with your little pout! You crack me up, hun. Can't you hear yourself?"

"What do you mean, Harley?"

Without warning, Harley reached across the table and grabbed May's hands, clasping them in his own.  
"May, hun, look at you, all fired up and confident! Think about how down the dumps you were just a minute ago!"

Already blushing at her hands being grabbed by Harley, May found herself extremely embarrassed.  
"H- Huh?"

"Like I said before, hun; I came all the way here to find you, and now look! You're feeling much better! If I had left it to your boy toys, they'd be comforting you, saying that everybody loses sometimes, move on, etcetera. You would still be wallowing in self pity like you were when I arrived, hun!"

With a jolt, May realised Harley was right. He had helped to increase her self-esteem by challenging her abilities. He'd actually been helpful for once. His mint-green eyes bored into her own, and she could feel her face getting warm again.

A quiet cough brought her back to the present day, and she pulled swiftly her hands from Harley's grip. The waitress, Robin, was smiling at them nervously.

"Oh, Robin, hun! I'm so sorry; I forgot all about you! Listen May, you having your egg runny or solid?"  
"I don't really have a choice about the egg on toast, do I?"  
"Nope."  
May sighed.  
"Runny."

The waitress quickly made a note, and proceeded to read out the order.  
"Two of your usual, Mr Davidson, but with three little pink marshmallows, and two fried egg on toast, runny yoke. Is that correct?"  
"Sure is, hun, but," he waved a hand in her general direction. "Call me Harley, right hun?"  
"S- Sure, Mr D- Harley."

May saw a faint blush rising in the young lady's cheeks, and as skipped towards the kitchen, smiled slyly at her rival.  
"So... That Robin girl seems to like you a lot."  
Harley blanched, cringing slightly.  
"I think you're mistaken, hun. Besides, I'm not really into girls."

May blinked, taking in what Harley had just said. If he wasn't into girls, did that mean-  
"Haha! That sounded better in my head, hun! Pay no heed!" A slight pink tinge appeared under his eyes, but he shook his head to clear it.

The next few minutes passed with little conversation between the rival co-ordinators. Harley simply glared at the table, while May stared into her mug again.

"Excuse me?"  
The same waitress as before placed a large, black, round tray on the table with care, before bowing slightly and walking over to a nearby table to take their order. May looked after her.  
"Maybe I was wrong..." she muttered under her breath.

The tray held two large, steaming mugs, and two plates of fried egg on toast. Harley happily reached for a mug and a plate, took a large swig of his drink, and started to tuck into his meal.  
May tentatively poked her egg with her fork.

"May, hun," Harley said once he'd finished his mouthful, "Just eat it already."  
May sighed, reaching for her mug.  
"I'll just have a drink instead."

She put it to her lips and took a long drink, allowing the richness and heat to fill her mouth-  
Before spitting out with a loud "Yeeeuuurrch!"  
She stared down at the brown liquid, complete with three small, pink marshmallows, in shock, feeling every pair of eyes in the room stare at her. She slowly raised her eyes to glare at her rival, who was pointing at her, tears of silent laughter rolling down his face.  
"Oh, May hun! I got you good!" He continued laughing, bent double with the effort.

"Harley!" May squealed, a deep blush coming to her cheeks as she realised it had been another trick. "This isn't Hot Chocolate!"

"Of course not, hun!" He took another swig. "It's mushroom soup!"

* * *

_A/N: So, what did you think? It turned out not very CookieShipping...-y, after all, but it was still heaps of fun to write! I would like to thank the following people, because they influenced this very much:  
__**Faerie on Serebiiforums. com, **__because they put the inspiration for the setting and the start of this in a CookieShipping thread a while back...  
__**Orangen**__ – her story 'Lessons in Perfection', influenced this quite a bit.  
__**CookieKitten**__ – because she's writing something slightly CookieShipping, which is a boost, seeing as it's a crack pairing.  
__**ArcanineOod**__ – She's a rabid CookieShipper, just like me, and seeing someone actively writing and supporting CookieShipping's a real boost to moral! She's also said she'll help me become a great CookieShipping author, and we're going to work together on some stuff in the future!_

_I know this isn't the best thing in the world, but I really dislike flames, so please don't give them, okay?  
Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!_


End file.
